Constructivist English Class: Practices in the Teaching of Language

Abstract

This study explored senior high school English teachers’ perspectives and classroom practices regarding Constructivist Learning Theory and examined how these practices aligned with constructivist principles in language instruction. A qualitative descriptive design was employed using focus group discussions with 16 purposively selected English teachers from four public senior high schools in the Division of Imus City, Cavite, with four participants from each school. Data were gathered through an expert-validated open-ended interview guide consisting of probe and exit questions. Focus group sessions were conducted online and in person, audio-recorded with consent, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed through open coding, categorization, and thematic analysis, with respondent checking and expert validation used to strengthen credibility. Findings showed that teachers understood constructivism through five interconnected perspectives: student-centered learning, discovery learning, teacher-facilitated learning experiences, scaffolding-schema approaches, and connections to real-life experiences. These perspectives were reflected in practices such as group defense, position paper writing, mock interviews, extemporaneous speaking, role-playing, use of realia, translanguaging, symbolism, and video or film analysis, although implementation varied across schools. Misconceptions were also identified, particularly the beliefs that constructivism is purely discovery-based, minimizes or removes the teacher’s role, overlooks sociocultural differences, or produces inconsistent outcomes. Based on these findings, constructivist-aligned classroom strategies were proposed to strengthen guided facilitation, reflection, authentic communication, cultural responsiveness, and structured assessment. The study underscores the need for sustained professional development and coherent support for context-sensitive constructivist English instruction.